The British Comedy Awards 2014 (Channel 4, 9pm)

THE 25th annual British Comedy Awards provides a wealth of comedic talent up for the assorted plaudits including Joe Wilkinson, who's in the running with Matt Berry, Nick Helm and Harry Peacock for Best Comedy Breakthrough Artist.

The hirsute funnyman has become a TV regular over the past couple of years, popping up in sublime sitcom Him & Her, and assorted panel games, including Have I Got News For You and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown (both of which are up for Best Comedy Panel Programme). But how did the Kent-born actor and comic make the leap from graphic designer to professional rib-tickler?

"I kind of enjoyed graphic design, but my heart was elsewhere," he explains. "I'd like to say that I orchestrated it, and it was all a big plan, but I wasn't really."

Joe had wanted to try his hand at comedy, but thought it was a club reserved for other people, until one fateful evening.

"My local pub was putting on open mic stand-up nights, so I went on and thought maybe I'll try but I won't tell anyone, and it was genuinely to go, 'Right, I've done it. Like a bungee jump sort of thing,'"

After his routine, Joe was amazed when he was asked if he wanted to do it again in the coming weeks.

"I thought, 'Oh, I hadn't really thought about doing it again'. So I did that a few months later, and then someone else booked me and it just sort of kept going. People kept booking me and I have no recollection of my first gig. I'm almost certain it wasn't brilliant. I'd love to say I had my five-point plan. I'm still sort of winging it if I'm honest."

Will Ferrell’s Anchorman 2 from last year is in the running for Best Comedy Film. That’s because programmes or performances must have had their first transmission in the UK between September 24, 2013 and September 22, 2014 on terrestrial, cable, satellite or digital channels.

Special gongs include The Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award (WGGB); Outstanding Achievement in Comedy; Lifetime Achievement in Comedy (the Python team may be in the running given their O2 gigs), and The King/Queen of Comedy.

Aisling Bea stood out on Never Mind the Buzzcocks, but will she manage to eclipse the likes of Bridget Christie, Isy Suttie or 2013 winner Nina Conti in the Best Female Television Comic stakes?

There are likely to be a few misty-eyed moments when the deaths of showbiz greats Robin Williams and Rik Mayall are remembered.

Hit and Run (ITV, 9pm)

LAST year, more than 1,500 people were killed or seriously injured on UK roads by drivers who failed to stop, giving investigators great difficulty. Paul Tasker and his wife Mo remember how they were on the way back from the pub in Manchester with their friends Billy and Sylvia Bates when a vehicle mounted the kerb and smashed into all four of them, before driving off, and Paul and Tracey Glasgow talk movingly about the pain of losing their 17-year-old daughter Natalie, who was killed while walking home from a party in Essex.

And while some viewers may think that hit-and-runs usually happen when a driver is involved in an accident and then flees in a panic, the police reveal CCTV footage of a seemingly deliberate crash in Manchester that left three men badly injured.

The Fight for Saturday Night (BBC4, 9pm)

YES, I know it’s a Wednesday, but former BBC chairman Michael Grade is keen to show us that finding out who won the X Factor and the Strictly final aren’t the first programmes to attempt to attract millions of viewers on a Saturday. The battle for viewers didn't start with Simon Cowell and the history of this particular ratings war reveals a tale full of skulduggery and dirty dealings.

It turns out that the fight to be the most popular doesn't just involve making the best show you possibly can, as Grade looks at the many ways channel bosses and producers have tried to attract viewers.